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History of Taricaya Research Centre

2011

Every year at this time it is customary for me to provide a summary of what we have achieved over the past 12 months and 2011 has been a phenomenal year for us at Taricaya. With an increase of nearly 25% in the number of volunteers from last year we were able to aim high and with a lot of hard work from both staff and volunteers this year has been one to remember.....

Our biodiversity studies have continued to bear fruit and to date we have some spectacular species lists. In the 476 hectare reserve we have now recorded 445 species of bird, 123 species of mammal which includes 54 species of bat, 50 species of amphibians, 63 species of reptile, 281 species of butterfly and over 300 species of plants. These figures are outstanding and the hours of field work and data analysis have established Taricaya as a global hotspot for biodiversity. Such recognition has led to us hosting the second bird banding course in Peru, the first ever bio-acoustics course in Peru and as we start to publish our findings with potentially new species of bat and bird our standing will continue to improve.

The animal rescue centre is now officially recognised as the best in Peru and with the second successful release of spider monkeys into the area we are continuing to forge an excellent reputation. The arrival of animals from Lima to strengthen our captive breeding program and the continual expansion and remodelling of our enclosures puts us in an excellent position to grow and 2012 looks very promising for all our residents and those top of the list for release.

The completion of the new turtle house this year coupled with the continuation of our freshwater turtle repopulation program means that next year we can look forward to new research into the Chelonians of the reserve and potentially some captive breeding of some of the area’s more reclusive species.

Our work at the pilot farm and with the Ese’eja community of Palma Real is moving along well with the new reforestation transects and plans to recover all the abandoned land that the natives cannot recover on their own. Our own mahogany project moves from strength to strength and new plant nurseries built in 2011 will enable us to produce many more saplings for reforestation and expand into other species that are quickly disappearing such as the ironwood tree, cedar trees and many different types of palm.

There have been so many highs this year that it is impossible to mention them all and whilst there are always drawbacks and losses in this kind of work one cannot help but be proud of our efforts and the innumerable successes that push us onwards and encourage us to work even harder often in tough conditions. The Amazon rainforest is a truly unique ecosystem, unlike any other on the planet, and I am very proud that we are able to do our bit for its continued preservation. As we celebrated our ten year anniversary this year I can only hope that the next decade will give us as much success and as many memorable moments that gives us the motivation to keep going. With the help of every single volunteer that has stayed with us at Taricaya and those that will visit in coming years the future of Taricaya and our little patch of paradise looks very bright indeed!

2010

The year 2010 saw us welcome 199 volunteers to Taricaya and whilst most stayed for months, others weeks, some just days, it has been a huge team effort over the last 12 months and we have achieved some remarkable goals. Here are some astounding facts about our research into the biodiversity of Taricaya and by extension the south-eastern Amazon. Whether tending mist nets to monitor birds and bats; digging pitfall traps for frogs and rodents; hanging traps for butterflies and marsupials or surveying from the platforms with binoculars we have spent thousands of hours collecting data on the rainforest around us and even though we have completed our ninth year of investigation we continue to discover new species for the reserve and our species lists become ever more complete.....

To date we have registered 434 species of bird, 103 species of mammal (including 45 species of bat), 49 species of amphibian, 63 species of reptile, 167 species of butterfly and over 300 species of plant. These figures are breathtaking for a relatively small patch of rainforest. To put it into context we have close to 1 species of bird per hectare and 1 species of mammal every four hectares! This is a reflection of dedicated research and indicates an area exceptionally rich in biodiversity. Who knows what 2011 will throw our way but as we continue to modify and expand our research techniques there can only be more surprises ahead and I look forward to bringing them all to you over the coming months.....

Elsewhere at Taricaya the rescue centre has grabbed many of the headlines with the first reintroduction of spider monkeys (Ateles chamek) into the region, many success stories with nursing badly mistreated animals back to health such as our young jaguar (Pantera onca) and our expansion with larger enclosures designed for specific types of animal. Our work continues to generate more and more interest and our ongoing efforts helping the government authorities mean that the future is bright for 2011.

This year we completed our sixth season of the turtle project and the new research enclosure will contribute to discovering more about the turtles and tortoises of Taricaya over the coming months. The pilot farm has changed its focus over the year as we now move towards more direct research as the short term projects have been implemented with many of our neighbours, improving their standard of living. Now we must look longer term to couple these projects with larger scale projects to protect the rainforest and reforest the areas that have been devastated in years gone by.

The visits of several film crews including the BBC, Sky TV and Jack Hanna have served to increase awareness of our work and with volunteer numbers already high for the coming year I am sure that we will smash yet more records and welcome even more people to Taricaya in 2011. It just remains for me to thank everyone involved in the project for their hard work and dedication over the last 12 months and the future looks very bright for all of us involved in Taricaya and our ongoing mission to conserve the most diverse ecosystem known to man!

2009

Reflecting on 2009 gives me a huge sense of satisfaction as every project has evolved and developed and with over 900 volunteers to have now visited Taricaya since its conception we can be very proud of our many achievements.  In summarising the last 12 months, I should start by mentioning our ongoing research into biodiversity. From plants to frogs; mammals to butterflies; birds to bats; we have continued to make some amazing discoveries around the reserve and our species lists are a source of immense pride. They reflect innumerable hours checking traps and mist nets, visiting platforms, patrolling the trails and poring over field guides. To date we have registered 48 species of amphibian, 61 species of reptile, 86 species of mammals (including 34 species of bat), 167 species of butterflies, 286 species of plant and 428 species of bird. These figures are remarkable for an area of 476 hectares and the biodiversity of the reserve has already marked Taricaya as a hotspot for wildlife and our findings will undoubtedly figure in future field guides to the flora and fauna of Peru. I am in no doubt that these numbers will continue to increase next year as our research will now become even more specific as we target new monitoring techniques and areas of the reserve least studied thus far.

It seems that every December I comment on fresh successes in the turtle project and this year is no exception as we released 1600 baby turtles (Podocnemis unifilis) back into the wild. This is a truly astonishing figure and I am sure that next December I will be praising an even higher number as our first turtles released in 2005 will start to reproduce next year also. The knock-on effects of the project have also led to several local schools building artificial beaches and releasing their own youngsters back into the wild. In fact, the Ministry of Education for the whole province of Madre de Dios has declared our anniversary (5th November) as the “Day of the Taricaya”, Taricaya being the local name for these endangered turtles. Such improved education on conservation and getting youngsters involved has been thoroughly rewarding and I hope that 2010 will see us build on this excellent foundation and push environmental issues to the forefront in schools and communities both in Puerto Maldonado and the surrounding areas.

2009 saw huge progress with the animal rescue centre with our first official releases since receiving our legal status in January. Both the coatis (Nasua nasua) and Spix’s guan (Penelope jacquacu) have been seen around the reserve and their good health in the wild reflects a good release protocol and the future for many of our residents looks bright as we commence the lengthy rehabilitation of our spider monkeys (Ateles chamek) in 2010 as just one of the many releases planned over the coming months. A new experience for us next year will be captive breeding programs for our tapirs and jaguarundis as we attempt to repopulate the area with offspring raised successfully in the centre.

Our international status has continued to improve this year also with a new documentary aired in France based on our ongoing work in the field of conservation, the first international bird banding course in Peru being hosted at the centre and the ever growing number of volunteers from an ever broader range of countries. In addition to this, our efforts to heighten environmental awareness have been ever more successful both with the techniques and research undertake at the pilot farm being adopted all over the region and our good relations with local communities of farmers and Ese’eja natives.

2008

As I look back over the last year it is hard to identify any one success as there have been so many highs and I shall try and do justice to all the hard work of the last twelve months. First I must congratulate everyone involved with the turtle project this year as we smashed our record once again with the release of over 1400 baby turtles and achieved a remarkable breakthrough with the Palma Real community. The pilot project with the school was incredibly satisfying and I shall never forget the looks on the faces of the young children as they released the baby turtles back into the river. The future of the freshwater turtle, Podocnemis unifilis, will depend on the actions of the next generation and this was a huge step in pioneering its conservation in the Madre de Dios region.

Back at Taricaya we were proud to increase our status globally with the visits of two major film companies. First we welcomed TV1 from France filming a program on animal conservation in Peru. They concentrated on our animal rescue centre and our diverse research projects in the reserve. Whilst I have yet to see the documentary personally, I have been told that it was excellent as it has aired in Europe already. The second visit came from NHK Japan and Taricaya soon began to look like a military operations centre as boat after boat of equipment arrived. The live feed went off smoothly after a week of preparation and the most satisfying aspect was their initial selection of Taricaya as the best conservation initiative in the region.

Our research projects have truly leapt forward in 2008 also as we have been working hard at the lodge both alone and with our dedicated visitors. Our species lists are some of the most comprehensive not just in the region but also Peru and this year we have made some exciting breakthroughs. We have registered 400 species of birds (over 200 with photographs), 47 species of amphibian, 57 species of reptile, 107 species of butterfly, 34 species of bat and 53 other species of mammal. This is a reflection of thousands of hours in the field with mist nets, traps and binoculars in all weather conditions. I am convinced that 2009 will see us continue to push forward and increase these lists further.

The pilot farm has generated much interest this year also with several other organisations requesting advice and assessment. Our farm module is now complete and a true reflection of how a local farmer could and should manage his land. Our neighbours are increasingly involved in the project and the community Palma Real also. Volunteers have toiled very hard over the years on this project with the work being by far the least appealing of all our projects; but, it is incredibly satisfying to achieve our goal of showing that it is possible to farm the plots of land allotted by the government. 2009 will see us continue to take the projects into the field as our sphere of influence continues to expand.

2007

As 2007 comes to an end it is time to look back on a truly amazing year here in the Amazon with numerous successes, various new projects and also some mistakes to learn from. Still it is perhaps the final piece of news from this year that gives me the most pleasure to report. Reserva Ecolgica Taricaya is now the first official animal rescue centre in Peru.

We had visits from government officials and vets this month and they were so impressed with the infrastructure at the lodge and the health and vitality of our rescued inhabitants that they pushed the paperwork through surprisingly quickly by Peruvian standards. Just last week we were officially recognised as the first institution legally able to receive confiscated animals and release them back into their natural habitat. As many of you know we have been unofficially operating with dubious verbal consent from the authorities for several years but we were never able to expand or corroborate with other interested parties as the permission was never official. Heads of department in Madre de Dios were unwilling to risk sanctioning a new program and so we were stagnated for a long time. But at Taricaya we never throw in the towel and after many trips to Lima, constant badgering and several heated discussions we have finally achieved the well-deserved status of “animal rescue centre”. This fantastic news is a tribute to the hard work of everyone involved with Taricaya over the last few years and I thank everyone who had a part to play be it large or small.

December saw us bid farewell to a resident of the rescue program as we released our brown capuchin monkey (Cebus apella) back into the wild. It is always very satisfying to release an animal back into its natural environment and this was no exception. The young male disappeared off immediately and has undoubtedly united with one of the several wild troops we have seen around the reserve. We also released a slightly more dangerous resident this month too! We had a rescued a two metre boa constrictor (Boa constrictor) in Puerto Maldonado that had been found out the back of what used to be Brombus. It was about to be killed by the workers clearing the area as their lack of knowledge leads them to consider all snakes potentially lethal to humans. Fortunately we heard the commotion and managed to prevent the unnecessary slaughter and I had the pleasure of releasing this 10 kilo monster after it had become well and truly irritated by its journey down river in a sack. It was not the easiest task; extracting the serpent from its temporary home but finally I got it out and after measuring it, released it near the creek. Hopefully it will discover that there are plenty of rats and mice to be had around the animal enclosures and will become part of our pest control system! The other residents in the program are all in excellent health and I am confident that the start of 2008 will see us able to release several of our longer standing residents. The Channel-billed Toucans (Ramphastos culminatus) have tripled in size since their arrival and are improving the flying skills constantly. The Yellow-crowned Parrots (Amazona ochrocephala) are also almost ready for release as are our night monkeys (Aotus sp). This is great news as we will be releasing some of our longest standing inhabitants which is always greatly satisfying but also we will be needing the space as we ready ourselves for the influx of new animals with the new permits we have been granted.

Another great piece of news to round off the year is the completion of our latest construction- the new dining room. This building has taken a while to complete simply due to its size and painting it alone has taken us almost a month. Still new volunteers arriving next month will be welcomed by this fantastic new building with its balcony overlooking the river and much more space inside for eating, relaxing or escaping from your roommate for a while!

Elsewhere at Taricaya we have been working hard on the farm as the first storms always leave a wake of destruction behind them. We needed to re-open the lines of heliconia flowers, clear the coffee and cocoa plantations and cut back the open areas around the mahogany saplings. It was hard work under an unusually hot sun but over the last few weeks we have managed to finish it all and the farm is looking very healthy and green thanks to the first heavy rains and the hard work by everyone to clear all the debris and cut back the encroaching jungle! We have also been able to harvest the cocoa this month and the lodge has been filled with the wonderful smell of freshly made chocolate as we sampled the first batch ourselves.

Many of you will recall that the aim of the pilot farm is to encourage our neighbours and other local communities to get involved with our program and thus help themselves improve their standard of living whilst simultaneously reducing their impact on the ecosystem. This ideal is one that we have had since the creation of the farm but as you will recall it has taken a long time for people to come to trust us after previous disappointments with other organizations. This month we have had two very positive requests that have made all the hard work worthwhile. Firstly our neighbours across the river in the San Pablo community have requested flowers and coffee plants for their farm. Pedro has been working with us for a couple of years now but he was only interested in livestock so we helped him with guinea pigs, sheep and donkeys. However, he has seen our successful flower production at his neighbour’s farm (Percy’s) and he now wishes to get involved in this area also. This is very encouraging and a just reward for our patience in building up local confidence. Nonetheless, we still had to transfer the saplings from our farm to his and this was very hard work under a blazing midday sun. Still, as usual, no-one quit and after two days of hard work we had transplanted over 500 bulbs onto his farm and now the rains should help them establish roots quickly. The second piece of good news concerns the Ese’eja community of Palma Real. We have been working with the head of the community in developing some projects for next year in conjunction with the local council and they are very excited about working with us. Still it was a pleasant surprise to be invited to the community’s anniversary at the start of this month and we all headed down river for a day of festivities that included a football competition and some cold beers!

Another great accomplishment this month has been the completion of our trail map using GPS. This has been a laborious task and the weather often foiled our efforts as thick cloud-cover would block the satellite signal. Still, perseverance paid off and we now have our trail system completely mapped out and every 50 metres of trail has registered co-ordinates. I am enclosing an artistic version of the new map and this will be blown up and posted at the lodge and smaller copies printed for volunteer use.

2006

It is hard to believe that we have come to the end of yet another year and once again it will be difficult to do justice to all the hard work performed during 2006. As we await the arrival of our 500th volunteer in January 2007 I have become quite nostalgic and struggle to grasp the magnitude of our achievements in the rainforest. When the first volunteer arrived at Taricaya in November 2001 they were lucky to have a bed and a roof over their heads! Now, after over five years of hard work from volunteers and staff alike, we are truly pioneering conservation not only in our area, but also at a national level here in Peru. We have formed alliances with both government and non-government entities, been awarded our own reserve, developed a pilot farm that has drawn interest within Peru and from abroad also and, now, we are on the brink of becoming the first and only Animal Rescue Centre in Peru. These achievements are truly fantastic and the recognition at both national and international levels is hugely satisfying as both Fernando and I have seen the project grow from its infancy to where we find ourselves now.

Nonetheless, there have also been thousands of personal victories for our volunteers over the last five years and whilst these may not have made the headlines I am confident that these smaller achievements are what make Taricaya special. I know that every one of our hard-working volunteers understands exactly what I am referring to- for those of you yet to visit, you will understand soon enough…

At the start of the year I recall reporting to you how the bias of our work in 2006 was to concentrate largely on the animal release program and building new enclosures for our non-human residents. The aim was to create adequate accommodation for the animals we were to receive and hence give us a better chance of convincing the government to generate new legislation hence enabling us to register as an official animal rescue centre. As has always been the case with Peruvian bureaucracy there were times when we wanted to throw in the towel as we were presented with a continual stream of petty technicalities and unhelpful officials. However, this would not have done justice to all the hard work back at the centre and after numerous discussions, some of them heated, I am proud to report that January 2007 will see Taricaya registered as the first official rescue centre in Peru!!! This remarkable achievement is once again dedicated to all the hard work of our volunteers and staff and our stature as a conservation organisation continues to strengthen with every achievement like this one.

Back at the centre work was still carrying on with the new enclosures and the latest one to be completed was the first of the two cages for the monkeys. I discussed the planned separation of the larger species last month and we can now start the process as the second of the two enclosures will be completed in early-January. Personally, I am very excited as we now have four white-bellied spider monkeys (Ateles belzebuth chamek) including a healthy young male. I will carefully study the dynamic of the group once they are separated from the others as this particular species is extinct locally and it would be great to see wild populations re-establish themselves in our reserve. We will have to manage the group well and target a release date when the youngest members of the troop are able to fend for themselves and actively search for food. During that time we might even receive other individuals and be able to release a larger group when the time comes. After completing the monkey cages the final construction will be a small mammal enclosure versatile enough to accommodate coatis, anteaters and any other furry visitors we might receive.

December was one of the wettest I can remember for a long time and whilst it rained nearly every day, volunteer spirits were definitely not dampened and work carried on as usual. In fact the rain made little difference as we spent a lot of the time in the creek experimenting with our novel fish farming project. Let us just say that there were/are a few teething problems and we have yet to get the right balance with the floating nets (literally in some cases when we almost needed scuba gear to recover unhinged parts!). Still, as is the norm at Taricaya, we will not give up and I am confident that in the not too distant future I will be reporting on the total success of the project- although I suspect the design will be distinctly different from the one we are currently experimenting with!

However, the wet weather was great for the farm project and the flowers and crops are thriving better than expected. The coffee plants are laden with fruits as are the cocoa trees and the rows of heliconia flowers are vibrant with colour. All these results are very encouraging as we continue to seek productive alternatives to illegal extraction from the forest. Percy, one of our neighbours, is already producing his own flowers and other locals are keen to jump aboard. News of the successful projects we implemented with Percy, Pedro, the Palma Real community and Enrique has spread and people are actively requesting our help. This is a great sign and I am confident that 2007 will see us working with more communities and local families further afield thus increasing our area of positive impact and saving larger areas of forest more distant than our immediate area of influence.

Stuart Timson
Conservation Director
Projects Abroad

It is hard to believe that 2004 has come to an end because the year has just flown by. This time last year at Taricaya the canopy walkway was still a distant dream; the mahogany project was generally viewed as a folly, unaccepted by the majority, and the animal release program was still in its infancy. How quickly things have advanced over the last twelve months. We have successfully hatched our first turtle eggs, over 6,000 thousand mahogany saplings germinated, the canopy walkway was successfully opened in February and we have released many animals into our reserve.

As 2004 progressed it was with great pleasure that I watched so many of these projects finally come to fruition. It was the hard work of volunteers and staff alike over the previous years, and of course this year, that made these successes possible and it is hard to know where to begin so I will try and summarise the best I can.

One of my personal favourites is the animal release program. I often find it very distressing when we receive some of the animals as they are so badly mistreated and in such poor health but seeing them recover with a better diet and health care is so very rewarding. Before this year we had successfully released a wide variety of animals including monkeys, anteaters, parrots, peccaries and many more but in 2004 we dedicated more time and money to the project and excitingly received our first cats. Imba, a beautiful margay, was released near one of our mammal colpas earlier in the year and is happily roaming our reserve and Preciosa, the jaguar, is still with us as we teach her to hunt and watch as her health improves. She was very badly mistreated and her now shiny pelt is a sure sign that her recovery is nearly complete and next year we must search for a suitable area in which to release her.

In 2004 we also received two species of peccary (wild pigs), coatis (S. American raccoons), four species of monkey, three species of macaw, several types of parrot, paca (a large rodent), tapitis (wild rabbits), tayra (large member of the weasel family) and a Brazilian Tapir. Unfortunately not all the animals survive as was the case with Rosa , the tapir, and the baby tayra. Sometimes when they reach us they are beyond help but the successful releases always make the project and the effort worthwhile.

In previous reports I have spent a long time explaining the ongoing progress of the mahogany project so I shall not repeat more of the same but simply report that next year we shall start to transplant the saplings and we will enter the third and final phase of the project monitoring which conditions best favour the newly planted trees and continuing to measure survival rates of the plants.

The turtle project (see October's report) was another personal favourite of mine as it was one of the first projects we designed at Taricaya. Next year we will have the full support of the government organisation, Inrena , and hope to improve the project further still. We will build a new artificial beach and will involve more of the locals in the collection of the eggs thus reducing the problem of poaching and illegal extraction.

It seems that I am always commenting on the progress of our official reserve and looking back over the last 18 months it has really been a battle to get the government to process the application. The tedious and often excessive paperwork often drove me to distraction but I am pleased to report that we are now in the final stage of our application and when I present the technical report that the government has requested we should finally be awarded the 480 hectares of the Reserva Ecologica Taricaya . The reserve is a culmination of the work of every volunteer we have received at Taricaya because the data collected from the observation walks, platforms, canoe observations and canopy walkway has made the reserve possible. This year we built a new platform at New Farm and of course the canopy platform, 50m above the ground.

Apart from the larger projects 2004 has seen the development and remodelling of the medicinal plant garden, the successful completion of the dam ready for 2005, the construction of a large pool for the caiman project, new cages for the animal release program, the purchase of two new canoes for the centre and various projects at New Farm including crop and livestock management; nurseries for bamboo, palms and ironwood and the successful cultivation of crops thought to be unsuited to the area and climate.

All that remains is for me to wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year and thank all the volunteers and staff alike for the hard work that made 2004 so successful. To those of you who are future volunteers let's make 2005 even better still!!!

On November 1st 2003, Taricaya Research Centre celebrated its second anniversary and during those first two years we are proud of the advances volunteers like yourselves have enabled us to accomplish. When people talk about the concept of 'conservation' they are often talking about several different areas that all fall under the general umbrella provided by the term. Here at the Taricaya Research Centre we have tried to involve ourselves in as many forms of conservation as possible but of course it was, and indeed remains, necessary to have a common goal to unite our projects. Thus the goal of this general outline is to explain why we are doing what we are doing and to maybe elucidate, what may not be obvious, connections between our varied projects; past, present and future.

Our most immediate aim in the Peruvian Amazon was to provide enough data of scientific interest to present to the government in an application for a reserve to be declared in the region in which we are located. New laws published by the Peruvian government in February 2001 allow for private parties to apply for reserves in areas not already protected providing there is enough evidence of scientific value to merit protecting the area. The Taricaya Research Centre is located in an area of rainforest that was under serious threat of destruction and by gathering as much data as possible we hoped to create a reserve to unite with the one that currently exists to the north-east of our location. The first task was to create a trail system for our observation tasks. Hours of hard work now enable us to boast a fully-mapped trail network of over 55km which is marked for purposes of study. Thanks to the countless hours of wildlife observation in the form of walks on these trails, platform observations and the use of blinds we are officially to be given our reserve over the next couple of months. "La Reserva Ecologica Taricaya" is a culmination of the work of our volunteers and their commitment over the last two years. We have successfully provided enough data to satisfy the government that not only does the area merit protection but that our work over the last two years has already provided a positive impact on the ecosystem. This improvement has taken the form of a huge increase in wildlife sightings in the area. This increase reflects a re-discovered confidence by the fauna that the presence of humans in the area does not correlate with an increased risk of them being hunted. We have been successful thus far in protecting the area but that is just half the work.

Whilst staff and volunteers alike are very aware that the fauna is returning to the Taricaya area we have to justify to the Peruvian government, in the form of an annual report, that our work in the new reserve is having a positive impact on the ecosystem. This means that our data collection needs to be continued but to an even higher level so that we can process the information in a way that meets this new goal. To this end we are now investigating such models as relative abundance indices, area diversity, forest-type distributions and much more. This information, by providing annual comparisons, should reflect the advances made within the new reserve and satisfy the government that we are improving the area. You as new volunteers will be responsible for this new data collection and this project will be a constant one during your visit with us.

Last year we developed yet another fauna monitoring technique by using canoes to paddle through the swamps during the wet season. This novel technique enabled us to increase our data collection as we had access to many new areas where we could identify many species such as herons and kingfishers that we not seen from the trails.

The observation walks may well appear to be the toughest assignment at Taricaya because often hours are spent hiking with little to show for the time spent. However, the more time you spend out walking the trails the better at wildlife spotting you will become. The animals and birds are out there and over the last two years we have had some truly amazing sightings. It would be impossible to list them all but perhaps some of the best have been: giant anteaters, giant otters, black jaguar, female puma with her cub, red howler monkeys, razor-billed curassow, green anaconda, white-lipped peccaries and much more. We have currently recorded over 300 species of bird and over 35 species of mammal but there is plenty more out there to find. Therefore I urge all of you to persevere with the observation hikes because you will only get better and better at spotting and identifying the wildlife you come across.

Taricaya Research Centre has been involved in many projects during its first two years and the majority are still functioning now. These diverse projects involved various forms of "conservation" and its array of definitions. The motives behind the designation of a reserve are fairly straightforward but what of our other work. One of our biggest successes has been the release of wildlife back into the area. For example there are numerous species in the Peruvian Amazon that are under threat of extinction or have actually been regionally hunted to extinction. The area in which the Taricaya Research Centre is situated has seen many such local extinctions such as the black spider monkey (Kateles paniscus) and the white-fronted capuchin monkey (Cebus albifrons). Two of the most seriously threatened species still in the area are the freshwater side-necked turtle (Podocnemis unifilis) and the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger).

With these facts in mind we tried to apply for status as an official animal rescue centre. Such a centre would receive unwanted pets and confiscated animals to be nurtured back to health with the ultimate aim of releasing them into a safe environment in the from of our newly-created reserve. The paperwork and politics of a complicated Peruvian legal system have put plans of an official centre on hold but we do have an unofficial agreement with the local authorities to allow us to proceed in this same line of work and already we have many animals located at Taricaya and successful releases have been achieved also. Over recent months we have been re-modelling the animal rehabilitation cages and our system is much more efficient than before. Successes up to date have included four different species of monkey, pygmy (or silky) anteaters, sloths, parrokeets, macaws, parrots, peccaries, armadillos and our latest resident at the Taricaya Research Centre a very rare baby Brazilian tapir.

The turtles mentioned above are under serious threat from poachers that hunt both the eggs and the grown adults for food and to sell. In a joint effort with Fondepes and ProNaturaleza we have built an artificial beach at the research centre and whilst early project plans were unsuccessful we have since built good relations with our immediate neighbours who have agreed to help us in the coming year in the collection of the turtle nests. So 2004 could be our inaugural year for the turtle release program at the Taricaya Research Centre!!

The protection of the black caiman, also mentioned earlier, motivated us to build an enclosure with man-made pools at the Taricaya Research Centre. The black caiman has been hunted to the point of extinction by poachers over the last thirty or forty years for their skins. They are now rated in category one of CITES list (Convention of International Trade in Endagered Species). This coupled with their naturally slow reproductive rate and low survival percentages motivated this project. In the wild only about 5% of young caiman reach 18 months of age and so by collecting young black caiman we can rear them to this age when they appear big enough to fend for themselves and then start to re-introduce them back into our rivers, lakes and swamps. The project has been moderately successful until now but the new enclosure promises a much higher success rate.

Reforestation is one of the more common concepts of 'conservation'. Trees fall over on a regular basis in the rainforest due to a combination of climatic conditions, poor soil and the effects of parasitic plants. We have used these fallen trees to provide wood for various projects at the centre because when buying building materials in Puerto Maldonado you can guarantee if the wood has come from a designated logging area or from illegal extraction. However, for every fallen trunk used we have planted saplings thus enhancing the forest's healing process. We have used many plants such as castaña, ishpingo, copuasu, cedar, mahogany and many more. Reforestation has also been employed along our trails. The growth rate of these plants in the actual forest has proven to be fairly slow and so we have developed some new ideas on growth of trees of economic importance which will be covered in the section on new and ongoing projects.

Other projects have been implemented over the last two years with the aim of providing the locals with a good alternative food source that does not depend on the hunting of native fauna. Here we have concentrated on two reproduction programs (the giant snail & "bocachica" fish) and a pilot farm.

The giant snail is a handsomely-sized mollusc that is very high in protein and our aim was to discover the most successful methods for breeding them in captivity with the goal of teaching the locals how to maintain the same programs and thus supplement their meat requirements with the snails. This ready supply of protein would hopefully reduce the necessity to hunt as frequently. Thus in January 2002 artificial pools were dug using locally discovered clay deposits to waterproof them. Results were mediocre in that whilst the snails did reproduce the time and work invested did not justify the returns in the form of meat. It appeared that predation had a big role to play in the absence of fully grown adults and a lack of food in the development of young snails. Thus in June of the same year we transferred the remaining adults to concrete pools protected by netting and the results were much more exciting as two new generations of snail appeared very quickly. The pools were just allowed to fill with natural rainwater and soon the stagnant pools resembled more their natural environment. These encouraging results led to a new plan for 2003 whereby we released five thousand baby snails into our seasonal swamps and thus the project was united with the fish breeding project outlined below.

The concept with the fish breeding was almost identical. When one travels by river in the Tambopata-Madre de Dios region it is impossible not to notice the hoards of nets strewn across the rivers. The rivers are seriously over-fished and this seriously effects the very complex food chains that exist. Therefore we hoped to utilise the seasonal pools that form on our land during the wet season to implement a breeding program to start to replenish the river systems and again to provide good alternatives to the hunting of local wildlife. Thus, along with the snails, we released three thousand young "bocachica" fish into our biggest seasonal swamp in January 2003. The "bocachica" is a quick-growing fish tolerant to low levels of oxygen so ideally suited for our needs. The project appeared doomed at an early stage as within two weeks of releasing the fish The Madre de Dios province of Peru suffered its worst flooding since 1962. This meant that not just our swamps but the whole reserve area was underwater. We were convinced that the fish had been swept away when the water levels finally dropped. We were very pleasantly surprised when we harvested the fish in July/August of this year, when the swamps naturally dried up, that there were still many fish left in the swamp. We actually discovered many different species not normally associated with swamps that were trapped by the receding water levels. This meant increased competition for food and oxygen for our remaining "bocachica" but nevertheless we had a good harvest and the dried fish are still being used to feed the animals on the pilot farm (see next section). The projections are good then for 2004 as we are convinced that releasing the fish in the swamps will provide a much cheaper food income for local farmers with minimal effort on their behalf. Harvesting is a simple process as the fish become concentrated into a smaller area as the swamps dry up.

The pilot farm project was officially opened in November 2002 and was designed to achieve many goals. We brought guinea pigs and goats from Cusco with the idea of again providing alternative food sources for the local communities. The goats have started to breed successfully and are producing milk for both drinking and for making cheese. As of yet the breeding population is not high enough to start eating their meat but we are confident that next year goat will be on the menu for many of the locals participating in the project! The program is a simple one whereby farmers are given a fixed number of breeding animals (e.g. five). Once the farmer has ten animals he returns five and keeps the rest to breed and increase his population. The five returned animals are then given to a new farmer and so on. The same principle was to be employed with the guinea pig (or "cuy") but the race we brought from Cusco had been genetically manipulated by selective breeding to produce higher quantities of meat and this appears to have diminished their natural resistance to climatic changes and the majority perished during the first six months. We have also brought from Lima hens bred for their egg-laying capacity. The results have been great as many of our neighbours now produce their own eggs as do we at the Taricaya Research Centre.

The pilot farm has also been our base for several projects related to crops and plants of economic importance. We are experimenting with crops currently imported from neighbouring countries such as Brazil and Colombia. These include tobacco, coffee and cocoa. If we can successfully produce such crops in well managed parcels of land then their increased value will attract local farmers and reduce the large scale farming of rice and corn which is responsible for huge areas being cleared every year. We have also experimented cultivating crops out of season when their market prices are higher and again we have had small successes which need to be built on in the future.

The pilot farm project is also a base for other projects we have initiated over the last two years. One such project is the palmiche project. Palmiche palms are a natural resource of the rainforest used in roof building. Current extraction usually occurs from protected areas causing severe damage to local populations. Therefore we have extracted samples from both plants and seeds and re-planted them to monitor their success in varying climatic and topographic conditions. If we can successfully grow palmiche palms in farm-like situations then impact on the environment within reserved areas will be greatly reduced (in fact there are no longer any palmiche palms left outside protected areas) and once again an alternative source of income will become available to local people. The germination rate of palmiche palms has been slow but we are starting to see results after almost a year with seeds planted in plastic bags and 2004 will see big advances in the project.

In conclusion the Taricaya Research Centre has developed very quickly over its first two years and we are very keen to maintain this momentum and continue the excellent work. The centre itself has been modified during this time to increase comfort levels for you the volunteers and provide a better working environment. We hope to provide you with numerous opportunities to help us do our part for 'conservation'. These projects are well established and will be continued during your stay with us, others (see later) have just begun and new ones will appear whilst you are with us. Any personal interests or ideas are always welcome and can be accommodated with no problem. Above all I am certain that the more you put in the more you will learn and appreciate about our work in one of earth's last paradises so get stuck in, do your part and above all enjoy yourselves.

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